Pages

31 December 2010

Resolutions for 2011

2011 will be a year of change for me, in terms of gaming. I've lost my previous job and I'm currently (barely) staying afloat by painting figures and other artistic endeavors. So traveling to conventions will be severely limited. But I will be painting a whole lot. The job news was followed up about a week and a half later with news that my wife and I will be having a child. That's going to increasingly cut into my free time. In a strange twist, I've started to dabble in RPGs again, along with some other "old-timers."

Anyway, on with the actual resolutions.

1. Get back into pointless gaming.This is a carry-over from last year. I'm going to throw the "Legendary Battle" into this one as well. I just want to play some interesting non-competitive games again. Although I've going to one in a little over a week, I'm really getting sick of tournaments and the tournament mindset.

2. Paint lots of Romans (and the friends & foes.)Again, a carry over from last year. This year I'd really like to be able to pit two Roman armies against each other for some dramatic civil war action in the late Republic.

3. Cleveland East-side gaming.I'd like to get some gaming in my general part of town. I know there are a few other people around here, so it's just a matter of organization. Ideally I'd like to do something a bit casual. Some friends and I used to get together every other weekend, drink some beers, have some laughs and play some 40k in the basement. Something like that.

4. Make my hobby more profitable.That sounds a bit "unfun" but I assure you it isn't. I've said before that I believe that if one is going to devote 1/4 to 1/3 of their time to their work, it should be something they enjoy, and about which they are passionate. I've learned that lesson the hard way -- I'm now left with nothing to show other than a lot of stress & baggage from almost a decade of suffering at a job that made me miserable and made me feel shitty about myself. I don't want to go back to that. As long as I'm in this position, I want to try to do something positive with it. I'm trying to work on a few different possibilities. This is something I've really got to work hard for, and is probably the most important thing on the list. In terms of survival, that is. OK... everything else on the list is back to less serious business...

5. Paint more landsknechts.I've had some of them forever. I love the figures, and if nothing else I can work them into my Empire army. I'm not even sure I care if I use them. But they take time and I keep postponing working on them based on the idea that it's not efficient use of my time. I need to throw that idea out the window on occasion, and just enjoy painting them once in a while. (I did paint a few in 2010.)

6. Sculpt/Convert more.I've got some ideas. I know I can do it, I just need some more practice. It's a matter of motivation to get over that first obstacle -- starting.

7. Paint Macedonians/Successors.I've got a pile of pikemen. I want to paint them. I always seem to have other things that seem more pressing. Like adding to existing projects rather than starting new ones.

8. Paint Carthaginians.This has got to be one of the easiest to do. I've got a small batch of Carthaginian spearmen. If I paint them, I can mix in a bunch of mercenaries... some Spanish, Numidians, Gauls, etc. Most of those I've already got painted. Tah-dah: Instant Carthaginian army. Added bonus: they're cleaned, assembled, primed and based. They just need paint.

9. Gaming Table - refurbish or replace.I'd like to either repair and refurbish my existing gaming table (table tops that go on the dining room table) or replace them with an entirely new one.

That's it for the moment. Since I went back and added one extra last year, I will stop with nine and leave myself open to add a #10 tomorrow, after I've slept on the list a bit.

If I wasn't strapped for cash at the moment (or of the figures had been released 6 months earlier, when I still had a job) I would probably have bought a boatload of the Perry WotR mercenaries and started a Swiss army.